Marriage and the family

"Marriage and the family can also be a source of joy which, happily, many couples still consider them to be. It is therefore the duty of State, Church and society to safeguard their future."

So ended The Sunday Times leader of September 23, commenting on the newspaper's survey on marriage - and the Cana Movement cannot agree more!

I feel that the outcome of this survey is both encouraging and challenging to all those working in this field, especially to the Cana Movement, a pioneer in marriage counselling and preparation.

An overwhelming majority of 85.3% agreed that Cana's marriage preparation courses are necessary. This news has come to me as a refreshing surprise, considering the numerous times Cana is accused, judged and sentenced for compelling all couples getting married in church to attend the course.

On the other hand, it is rather sad to see that 94.7% consider these courses to be "inadequate, in their present format, to prepare couples for marriage", knowing that so many people and expenses are involved to prepare and deliver them. However, we at Cana are aware of the need to continually revise and update their format. For this reason, Cana is currently reviewing its marriage preparation courses to enrich and update them further, not only in content but also in methods of presentation, so as to make them more adequate and appealing to young couples.

But there is much more to the Cana Movement than the marriage preparation course. It is constantly providing services in counselling, natural family planning and organising support groups. These services are constantly being updated, while new ones are created to cater for today's problems.

Besides this, at the moment Cana is also compiling two manuals. One is for the Going Steady group, which caters for couples who are going steady but have not yet attended a marriage preparation course. These meetings help to instil values of marriage and commitment at a young age, possibly before these couples are exposed to other influences.

The other manual is for the group which bridges the marriage preparation course and marriage itself. In these follow-up meetings, which are held once a month, couples are invited to go deeper into the things that really matter where their relationship is concerned, both practically and spiritually, to build a solid ground for their marriage.

Cana is also committed to continue sponsoring its new counsellors who are following a three-year course organised by Tavistock Institute, London, together with Appogg. At present, Cana is embarking on another new project which it expects to launch this autumn - organising activities for couples in their first years of marriage to continue enriching their relationship and strengthening their union.

Considering all this work and the human and financial resources needed to carry it out, it is good to remember that Cana Movement is a non-profit organisation which depends on volunteers, grants and donations to render its services to the family in the most professional way.

The Cana Movement strongly believes in marriage and the family, and turns to the State, Church and society to help it safeguard their future.

Both State and Church support Cana, and it has a good number of volunteers, but it takes much more than what it receives at the moment, both financially and as regards volunteers, to sustain and update its services in order to carry out its mission statement, namely:

"...presenting marriage as a relationship which is lifelong, faithful and open to life.

"It is also our mission to help persons prepare for marriage; to work with couples and families so that they grow in life, joy and stability; to stand by couples and individuals when they are facing difficulties in their marriage."

Ms Borg is vice-president of the Cana Movement